The present invention relates to the field of television and more particularly to set top boxes for televisions.
The television (TV) has become ubiquitous in modern society. As a result, a variety of services are being provided via TV. Many of the services are provided using a set top box that works in conjunction with the TV to provide the desired service. One example of a service provided via a TV is an online TV program guide, wherein TV program schedule information is displayed on a TV for searching and selection by a viewer. Online TV program guides are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,578 to Reiter et. al. Entitled xe2x80x9cSystem for Electronically Controllable Viewing on a Television Updateable Television Programming Informationxe2x80x9d. Other popular services are also provided using a set top box. For example cable or satellite TV may be provided using a tuner packaged as a set top box. The tuner decodes the transmission from the service provider and formats the signal for display on the TV.
Personal computers (PCs) have also been widely accepted into consumer""s homes for a wide range of uses. A popular use is access to the Internet, and the World Wide Web (the Web). The Web is an arrangement of uniform resource locators (URLs) on the Internet that, taken together, may provide a communications infrastructure for making services and products available to PC users.
Some of the services available over the Internet are provided using set top boxes. One example of such a service is WebTV. WebTV enables a user to browse the Web using a TV as the display. WebTV, however, duplicates much of the hardware and software included in a standard PC. For example, WebTV includes a modem while many PCs come equipped with one. Consequently, the consumer who already owns a PC may pay the cost of the modem twice: once when buying the PC and a second time when buying WebTV. Furthermore, WebTV may also duplicate a portion of the functions found in most TVs. This duplication of PC and TV components may make WebTV unnecessarily expensive or complex to the many consumers who already own a PC.
Information on the Internet may appear distorted when viewed on a TV. Information stored on the Internet may be formatted according to the aspect ratio of a computer display. A TV display, however, may not have the same aspect ratio as a computer display. Consequently, information from the Internet may appear distorted when viewed on a TV.
The present invention provides systems and methods which use a PC to access desired information while watching television. The information may be stored locally to the PC or on a network (e.g, the Internet). Lower cost may be achieved by utilizing a PC to access the information, thereby eliminating the duplication of hardware in the set top box.
A Set top box according to the present invention includes a remote control receiver that receives user commands from a wireless remote control unit. A radio frequency transceiver that transmits computer commands to the personal computer that may be connected to the Internet in response to the user commands and that receives data that is retrieved by the PC in response to the computer commands. A video processing system that processes the received data for display on a television and a television interface that displays the processed received data on the television.
Systems utilizing the present invention may be inexpensive compared to existing systems that duplicate hardware and software components found in many PCs and TVs. The present invention may use an existing PC to avoid replication, thereby allowing a reduction in the cost of the system. Moreover, the PC may be connected to the internet, avoiding further duplication and enabling access to networked resources. For example, the present invention may be utilized to access to the Internet so as to obtain information relevant to a specific television program currently being viewed or information independent of any particular program such as access to a chat-room.
Additionally, the television may be interfaced to the PC and the Internet by wirelessly receiving user commands at a set top box and then wirelessly relaying computer commands that represent the user commands from the set top box to a personal computer in response to the wirelessly received user commands. The computer commands cause the personal computer to access the Internet in response to the computer commands and receive data from the Internet at the personal computer. The information is then wirelessly relayed from the personal computer to the set top box where the information is formatted for display on a television that is connected to the set top box. The wireless connection may therefore avoid a physical connection between the PC and the television.
Furthermore, the wireless connection may allow the existing PC and the television to be located in separate areas of the user""s home. For example, the wireless connection may allow the PC and the televsion to be located in different rooms or on different floors of the user""s home.
The present invention may also be utilized to provide information likely to be desired while the viewer watches television. For example, the viewer may desire a listing of television programs and corresponding broadcast times, sports or weather information.
The present invention may also display information from the Internet along with television images on a television display. For example, the user may select a mode wherein a portion of the TV display is allocated to displaying TV images while another portion may be used for interactive services (e.g., E-mail or chat-room participation). The information from the Internet accessed by the user may be formatted in accord with the aspect ratio of the TV display so as to avoid the negative visual artifacts associated with the display of Internet information on a TV display.
Accordingly, an existing PC may be used in conjunction with the set top box to supply many of the functions that may be desired by a user while watching TV. Moreover, the set top box may use the PC in conjunction with the Internet to supply the desired functions rather than duplicating the functionality of the PC within the set top box. The user may access the information from a specific location on the Internet which is associated with the desired functions. For example, the user may desire program listings, sports scores, weather information, access to e-mail, or participation in a chat room that may concern a TV program presently being viewed by multiple users. By avoiding duplication of the PC functionality within the set top box, the present invention may provide a lower cost alternative to users who desire the above functions and already have a PC.